My hair is the longest and healthiest it’s been since I graduated high school! With 3 pregnancies and nursings, nutrient deficiencies from chronic dieting, and autoimmune diseases, my hair was a struggle. It used to fall out so much we’d find hair tumbleweeds around the house! After decades of short hair, I decided I wanted to grow it out during quarantine. After years of research, here are my tips for Non-Toxic Scalp & Hair Health.
I mean, even since the original 2023 post [edited and updated] my hair is even longer than from the original images above.
The biggest impact that allowed it to be super healthy at about a foot longer? Addressing inside and out. I’ll cover both here.
These processes can be used by almost all textures of hair, but it’s important to note that specific product recommendations are what’s best for my hair. I’m not a medical professional giving advice, I’m a human giving recommendations. I have fine hair, but a lot of it. It’s also naturally 3a/b curl texture. Because it’s both curly and thin I find most hair – thick, thin, curly, straight – often have luck with my recommendations. If you’re not sure, I’d love to help you. I do free consults, just e-mail me.
There are 5 factors for optimizing your external Scalp & Hair Health:
- Prep: before washing, comb out tangles and fully brush hair, I use and recommend a combo boar bristle brush.
- Wash: with a true rinse cycle, ensuring hair is SOAKING wet before applying shampoo. Concentrate shampoo on scalp only, to prevent oils from being stripped from dryer ends. Leave conditioner on while washing the rest of your body. I share a video on this process below, which is especially helpful for dry or curly hair (serves as an in-shower bowl method).
- Massage: while washing to activate blood flow to and exfoliate scalp. When hair is wet, do not comb or brush. This is when hair is weakest and most prone to breakage!
- Protection: Use a leave in conditioner that is also a heat protectant while hair is wet and then let air dry or use a microfiber towel to speed the process. Avoid heat as often as possible.
- Products: choose non-toxic non-irritating products. I use and recommend clinically proven and safe (below).
Ideally, only wash your hair 1-2 times per week.
Repeat after me: Wet Hair is Weak Hair
Use non-toxic non-irritating products: inside & out
These are all products I have personally used, vetted, tested, and currently recommend. Because hair growth is the result of our body’s ability to grow it (keratin is a protein, after-all), there are also essential products for inside, too. I have tried 100s of products over the last decade of testing brands that are proven safe and effective. I am quite picky when making formal recommendations, so know that I have thoroughly explored a lot of options!
Overall, here’s the products I use and love for external scalp & hair health:
- Prosante Nourishing Scalp Treatment
- Pomifera Beard Oil as hair oil (I love the scent!),
- Vegamour GRO Shampoo & Conditioner, and
- Leave-in Conditioner which is also a heat protectant, and
- to reduce washing Vegamour Dry Shampoo
Overall, here’s the products that have made a significant difference internally:
- Shaklee’s Collagen 9 with all 9 amino acids, biotin and Vitamin C to optimize effective use
- Life Shake plant or soy for adequate protein and nutrient sufficiency
- Life Strip for omega-3s and nutrient sufficiency
- Liquid Biocell Beauty with Collagen / Hyaluronic Acid matrix which is specifically formulated for hair, skin and nails.
All of these have been clinically proven safe through rigorous testing as well as proven effective through clinical testing.
On Wash Day, which is only 1-2x/week, I follow the below steps:
- The night before you wash, apply the ProSante Nourishing Scalp Treatment and massage into scalp with a Shampoo Brush to help remove build-up from dry shampoo, increases blood flow, and exfoliates for clear pores
- While dry, gently brush out knots using a Boar Bristle Brush; the less you detangle and fuss with your hair while wet the less breakage and shedding you’ll have.
- Use the video tutorial below for washing, using shampoo only on the scalp and leaving conditioner in through a “bowl rinse” method. I highly recommend a filter on your shower head, this is the certified one I use and it’s cheap, under $20!
- After hair is washed, apply Leave-in Conditioner and either air dry or wrap in a microfiber hair towel.
- Once dry, Vegamour Dry Shampoo blended in with a Shampoo Brush* on the scalp and then the Pomifera Beard Oil on the ends. 💡 If you’re wondering why beard oil, it’s specifically formulated to mirror skin sebum and is a weightless, hydrating oil to tame, condition, soften, nourish, and smooth hair. The pomifera oil is rich in vitamin e, which is optimal for hair health.
On NOT Wash Day, I follow the below steps:
- The night before I use the overnight curls “towel method” and ideally simply “let loose” my curls (if not, I touch up with a curling iron). I also really like these satin scrunchies for a simpler solution.
- As needed (usually every other day), Vegamour Dry Shampoo blended in with Shampoo Brush
- To refresh curls and add additional shine, I mist with Leave-in Conditioner and scrunch in from the ends, adding the Pomifera Beard Oil if it starts to feel dry or needs a shine boost.
- I touch up curls with this curling wand where needed, I like this one because it allows for larger chunks of hair adjust temp and curls larger chunks because high quality
Other items I like:
- No Nothing Very Sensitive Hairspray is the best cleaner version I’ve found
- my husband uses the Rahua Cream Wax
- it’s pricey, but I find my Dry Bar Styling Wand worth it (can adjust temp and curls larger chunks because high quality)
- silk and satiny-bamboo are your hair (and skin’s) best friends!
- try using a satin pillow
- these eco elastics are more gentle than most
- satin scrunchies are more gentle on your hair to prevent breakage
👉 Other products mentioned are on my Amazon Faves NonToxic Beauty Shop
tap the pic to play this tutorial video on how I care for my hair
Visual tutorials
I go through a tutorial in these videos:
- How to Shampoo for Scalp & Hair Health
- The science of how collagen helps your hair, skin & joints here
- Heatless Curls Towel Method
- Heatless Scrunchie Tutorial
- My non-toxic hair dye tips here
- Why a shower filter is important here (I use this one, it’s less than $20)
- You can see how much fuller and longer my hair is since this prior hair health video here, the internal focus has been a game-changer!
Massage your scalp
When you incorporate massage into your prep (clarifying serum) and exfoliation, it helps to:
- increase blood flow on the scalp to improve growth,
- reduce stress (and improve health factors such as blood pressure and heart rate), and
- improve signs of aging and wrinkles
Here’s a fantastic tutorial you can do with just your hands, though I have and like this Sandalwood Gua Sha and this Jade Gua Sha tool.
scalp health = healthy hair
Sources:
- Standardized Scalp Massage Results in Increased Hair Thickness
- Self-Assessments of Standardized Scalp Massages for Androgenic Alopecia
- The effect of a scalp massage on stress hormones, blood pressure, and heart rate
- Hard Water is Damaging Your Hair, Byrdie
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